Utility Scale PV

Rooftop solar generation continues to achieve record levels across the National Electricity Market but the Australian Energy Regulator has warned of a “pressing need for new investment” in large-scale renewable energy assets to keep pace with the energy transition.

Researchers at UNSW have modelled how shifts in Australia’s future weather patterns due to climate change will impact the nation’s solar resource, including its dependability. They found solar reliability may increase parts of Eastern Australia by 2099, but the outlook worsened in Western and Northern Australia.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation has made its first investment via the Australian government’s $20 billion (USD 12.67 billion) Rewiring the Nation Fund, committing $100 million to support the build-out of renewable generation, long-duration storage and grid infrastructure in New South Wales.

Aspiring renewable energy developer ACE Power will partner with the clean energy arm of Japanese energy giant Osaka Gas to jointly develop a portfolio of Australian solar and battery projects with a total capacity of more than 500 MW.

Queensland state-owned CleanCo has opened an expression of interest process to add 3 GW of wind and solar generation to its portfolio “to support our customers to achieve their sustainability goals, and to advance Queensland’s energy transformation”.

Fortescue is pressing ahead with the development of a 70,000-tonne green hydrogen production facility at Gibson Island in Queensland, tapping North American hydrogen technology company Plug Power to supply 550 MW of electrolysers for the proposed project.

Off the back of recent legislative changes leading to ‘spurred’ solar PV development, combined with an extremely liberal market, a senior solar analyst from cleantech advisory company Apricum told pv magazine that the Philippines is ‘the place’ to rollout solar projects in Southeast Asia.

Australian renewable energy developer Genex Power says has committed to building the 2 GW multi-stage Bulli Creek solar and battery project in Queensland’s southeast after entering into a 25-year offtake agreement with the green energy arm of Fortescue Metals Group.

The Federal Government has legislated emissions reductions of 43% below 2005 levels by 2030. Sourcing electricity from renewable technologies is fundamental to meeting this, with a much-publicised target of 82% renewables in the grid by 2030 – up from a current value of 38% over the last year.

A 288 MW solar farm in Tasmania’s Northern Midlands region has been identified as the first of a series of large-scale renewable energy generation projects set to be developed by newly launched clean energy startup TasRex.